Do railroads have a central area where they fuel up and make repairs on the trains?

Question

I always thought the railyard was some big stopping area for the trains similair to a truckstop. Heck I even envisioined the corporate offices as being there and basically anything having to do with the railroad there. Now looking at it I just see a bunch of abandoned buildings.

Answer 1

You're asking about three different kinds of facilities.

- The fueling facility, often a mainline fueling facility.

http://westbnsf.smrn.com/hauser.htm

- The diesel locomotive shop, often called a diesel ramp, both heavy shops like NS's at Roanoke

http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q1...

and light shops like Amtrak's in their Chicago hub

http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q1...

- The car shop, where cars are repaired.

http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q1...

Notice they're much smaller.

Now if you want to see where locomotives are built...

http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q1...

Some facilities will have "everything nearby", but that usually won't include heavy locomotive repair.  Here's a modern shop area

http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q1...

UP (former SP) car and locomotive areas on the left, Amtrak's fueling and light repair area on the right.

Heavy repairs, for Amtrak, go to Beech Grove (Indianapolis)

http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q1...

Here's a historic heavy shop facility.

http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q1...

Corporate offices are not out where the shops are.  SP's corporate headquarters was at prestigious 1 Market Plaza in downtown San Francisco.  Conrail and Amtrak had similarly fancy digs in Philadelphia.  After all, railroads are very much in the real estate business.

Answer 2

10 points for Rango.

In addition, sometimes when local freight assignments are 'outside jobs', meaning the train goes on and off duty away from a terminal and doesn't return to a service facility each day, local fuel contractors will deliver fuel to the locomotives.

Answer 3

Yes and no. The national RR's will have regional repair facilities that can do "running repairs" or light repairs but for the heavy stuff they will have one or two rebuild shops. Refueling facilities are not necessarily near the repair facilities. Offices can be located near themechanical facilities but typically were not, customer service and repair facilities do not need to be located together. RR's have centralized many of their office functions so there ARE a lot of mostly abandoned buildings.

Answer 4

Sure do.